


Useless

by eddiewrites307



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, I would too, M/M, Past Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Sokka has an inferiority complex from being with the GAang, boys have emotions, emotionally competent Zuko, goddamn, he learned it from iroh, its amazing i know, its very sweet, sokka whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26395552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eddiewrites307/pseuds/eddiewrites307
Summary: When Sokka feels useless in the team, he looks to the moon for help. One night, Zuko catches him.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 263





	Useless

Fights with the GAang  _ sucked _ .

Don’t get him wrong, Sokka loved to be fighting alongside his sister and friends, helping save the world and all that jazz, but god was it an ego downer. They were all amazing, impressive, fantastic benders -- Aang was the freakin’ Avatar -- and all Sokka had was his trusty boomerang and sword.

He wasn’t even the only swordsman anymore, not since Zuko switched sides and joined the, which was a freakin’ trip by the way. No, Zuko was the type of bastard to master both sword fighting and firebending. Sokka had nothing at this point, except maybe strategy, but the others never listened to his battle plans anyway.

They were all sitting by the fire now, laughing and joking, but Sokka’s mind was elsewhere. Why did they bother dragging him along? Comic relief? He cracked a joke as he thought this, something about Momo, and watched as Aang nearly pissed himself laughing. 

_ At least I’m funny. _

Sokka excused himself -- “I gotta take a piss Katara, jeez, give a guy some privacy!” -- and went to do what he always did when he was stressed or feeling worthless.

He found a secluded spot and looked to the moon.

“Hey Yue,” he said softly, gazing up to the sky. The moon was full, bathing him in light and odd shadows. “I bet you miss me, huh?” He laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “I miss you, you know. You always looked at me like I was worth something.

“It’s not that I’m not, you know? I’m a pretty cool guy. I’m good with a sword and boomerang, I can come up with battle plans, but it’s hard not to feel useless right now.” He fell silent briefly, tugging the tie from his hair and running his hand through it. It gave him something to focus on. “Everyone’s got their thing, you know? Katara is this super powerful waterbender, Toph literally invented metalbending and can see with her feet, Aang is literally the freakin’ Avatar, how’s a guy supposed to compete! Even Zuko is a master firebender and literal royalty, like, I’m pretty sure he’s next in line for the throne.” Sokka sighed, tugging on his own hair absentmindedly. “It would just be nice to have something that made me special, too.”   


“You think you’re not special?” A soft voice came from behind Sokka, and he whirled around, almost falling over himself in his haste. Zuko stood there, looking awkward as ever, but with a distinctly concerned expression.

Sokka let out a nervous laugh. “What?” he asked, wincing when his voice came out a few pitches too high. He busied himself with tying his hair back into it’s usual wolf tail, not noticing how Zuko’s golden eyes tracked the movement. “I didn’t say that, I mean like, I did, but I was only...how long have you been standing there?”   


“Only a few minutes.” Zuko was staring at Sokka, head tilted to this side, that concerned expressions still in place.

Sokka let the silence fester for a bit, before asking, “Did you need something?”   


Zuko didn’t answer, instead walking closer to where Sokka sat on the ground, plopping down beside him with none of the grace or elegance that Sokka would’ve expected from Fire Nation royalty. “Who were you talking to?” he asked, still in that soft voice. He always spoke that way, like he was scared of what would come out of his own mouth.

Sokka sighed, looking back up at the full moon. “Yue.”   


“Yue?”   


“My ex-girlfriend. Sorta.” Sokka let Zuko bask in his confusion for a moment before taking pity on him with a snort. “We didn’t really date, she was the daughter of her tribe’s Chief and had a betrothed, but we both knew we would if we could. While we were there, the Fire Nation attacked, and the koi holding the moon spirit was killed. Yue offered her life, and became the moon, to restore the balance.” He didn’t look at the other boy as he spoke, keeping his eyes to the sky, not quite willing to show more vulnerability.  “I talk to her, sometimes. I miss her, and I like to think she’s listening.”   


“I bet she is,” Zuko said, and Sokka turned to look at him in slight shock. Zuko didn’t meet his eyes, instead choosing to mimic Sokka’s early gazing at the moon, at Yue. “You’re not useless, you know.”

Sokka scoffed, ripping his eyes away from how Zuko looked in the moonlight to look back to Yue. “Thanks, but compared to you guys, I really am.”   


“That’s not true,” Zuko said, a little firmer now. “We’re all powerful, yeah, but we rely solely on strength. Even Aang just relies on his reputation as the Avatar to scare people out of fighting at their best. Without strategy, we’d be completely lost, and probably would’ve all been killed by my father a long time again.” Sokka winced at the mentioned or Firelord Ozai, as he always did, but Zuko ignored it. “I was raised on battle strategy, but I’m still not the best. But you, you’re creative. You come up with things I’ve never seen before, both in battle strategy and inventions -- I know you’re behind the war balloon. Besides, Sokka, there’s so much more to you than fighting.”   


“Fighting is what’s important right now, we’re at  _ war _ ,” Sokka argued, and Zuko shot him a fierce frown.

“If fighting is all you focus on, then you’ll lose your humanity. My uncle taught me that.” A small smile played at the edges of Zuko’s lips. “You’re kind. You were the first to fully accept me into this group, even though there was no reason for you to trust me. You keep everyone smiling and laughing, despite all the horrible things we have to see and do. We wouldn’t be able to keep fighting without that.” He finally turned to Sokka, and Sokka turned to him, and Zuko’s good eye grew wide and imploring. “Do you see how important you are?”   


Sokka was silent for a long time, simply letting the words sink in. “Why did you follow me?” he eventually asked.

Zuko shrugged. “You looked sad,” he said simply. “I don’t like seeing that expression on you.”   


Sokka blinked, then allowed himself to smile. He wordlessly scooted a bit closer, and the two boys shoulders brushed, and together they looked at the moon.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a lovely anon on Tumblr, here you go dear


End file.
